How to

I released this learn to swim guide because even when I “learned to swim” in high school, I learned the hard way that I hadn’t. Most group swim lessons and even some private ones focus too much on kicking. Every time I hear “kick, kick, kick,” I get annoyed and upset. Why? Because I know that isn’t the best way to learn to swim.

Most beginning swimmers have a weak flutter kick due to limited flexibility in the foot and ankle, so they don’t generate much momentum with their kick. And the flutter kick is a tiring kick when you try to perform it as fast as you can.

With all that effort and energy expenditure, there’s also little movement. Needless to say, I don’t focus on flutter kicking much in my guide. I do explain that it’s needed more for twisting the body than for propulsion.

This guide is for anyone who has tried to learn how to swim and failed. I discovered the hard way that just because I could swim one length of the pool, that didn’t really mean I knew how to swim. Don’t learn the hard way like I did.

I see it all the time. People trying to swim but aren’t. People that want to swim, but can’t. the real reason isn’t that they can’t get the strokes down. The reasons are 1, they aren’t comfortable in the water and 2, they are trying not to sink. Let’s talk about the second one – trying not to sink. What do I mean by that?

If you’re reading this because you want to do a one legged squat ask yourself why. Have you heard that bodyweight exercises are good for you? Have you heard that if you have most of your weight on one leg it’s like lifting that much? Is it because you’ve heard that it makes your legs stronger really fast? I asked myself those same questions and here’s why I started doing them sporadically.

I had a slight agitation that surfaced when trying to perform ass to calf bodyweight squats. Not one legged, but two legged. My right knee actually felt like it was getting weaker. Whenever I would squat to sit down, it felt as if the ligaments were stretching way too much.

Pre-cooked potatoes makes cooking meals easier and faster. It helps to have certain foods already cut up and prepared. That way you don’t need to do it on the spot. Let’s take potatoes for example. I know on most days I’m not in the mood to cut up a potato, when what I want to do is eat it now.

I find if I do it when I have some free time, I get it done and then just have to heat it up a little. I use potatoes in chicken soup and I like to eat them with scrambled eggs, sausauges or bacon.

One of the exercises I had to do in boot camp were Rifle Jacks. I was on the drill team so I had to practice pretty much every day. Rifle Jacks are another way of doing jumping jacks, using your rifle as added weight.

When we first pick an exercise we want to do, we might not be strong enough to do it. Let’s take pull-ups for example. When I first started trying to do them, I couldn’t. Therefore, I had to start with an easier version and work my way up.